The CNE opens on Friday, with a blast of confetti at 10am. On the midway, there are many marked spaces for rides that have not yet arrived. We expect more to see tomorrow, and a magical transformation on Thursday. Today’s site visit gave students a look under the new Tivoli Remix.
The Remix also inspired learning opportunities to learn about the LED trend in the industry. Many rides are covered with colourful lights for a vivid interplay of light and motion.
This large number of 10W incandescent lights provides great show, but consumes a lot of energy. LED lights are expensive, but use less than 20% of the original energy, and the required capacity of power cables is decreased as well.
While this Remix currently uses mostly conventional lighting, other rides on the CNE midway are already converted to LED light packages. Students counted thousands of lights on the Remix ride, figured the cost of replacing the bulbs with LED bulbs, and talked with people on the midway to learn about their experiences with LED and the business case for conversion.
With thousands of lights on a ride, the cost of conversion is a little more significant than switching out incandescent for LED in your bedside reading lamp. In addition to the cost of the bulbs, the labour of conversion either takes the ride out of service for the duration, or has to be done during seasonal downtime. The students learned about light packages which not only streamline conversion but also provide some preprogrammed multicoloured effects to present impressive patterns for good show for the guests.
CNE has taken a leadership role in energy conservation and recycling on their site, and their midway operator is an important partner in that process. Expect to see more LEDs on rides in coming years!
